The James andAnn Whitall House (1748 - present) is a historically preserved colonial house located on Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ. Currently it functions as a museum and visiting center for the National Park. In the 1750s it was a Quaker plantation owned by the Whitalls, but by 1777 it became a field hospital at an important battleground for US colonial independence.
The Whitall house was constructed on a 400-acre plantation in 1748. Though most houses built in this time period were made out of wood, the Whitalls made theirs out of bricks and stone. This two-story home with attic and cellar was considered a mansion by colonial standards and cost £25. The main building was built by Restore Lippincott, but a stone kitchen was added to the south side of the house at a later date. The initials JAW and date 1748 are affixed to the north side of the house.
Life of James and Ann
18th century plantation life revolved around daylight, with much of the free time taken up by farming or household chores. Some daily responsibilites might include sheering, carding, or spinning of wool and flax fibers, maintaining or harvesting from the orchard and garden, chopping wood from the cedar swamps, tending the livestock, fishing, ferrying, cooking, and cleaning.
Textiles
Clothes were rarely bought in the 18th century. As such, women of the household typically made clothes for everyone in the household. Wool was periodically sheered from the sheep in clumps. These clumps then went through a process called carding. Hand carding involves transfering a piece of wool between two fine-toothed brushes, or cards, and pulling the brushes in opposite directions. This action aligns fibers and removes debris from the wool, softening it. The carded wool would be gathered and spun into spools of thread using a spinning wheel. When spinning, the woman would drive the wheel by pressing on the foot pedal, or treadle, while carefully regulating how much fiber to let loose. This regulation, or drafting, was necessary to ensure a consistent thickness. The wheel would then pull the wool through a flyer-and-bobbin which would twist it and spin it onto a spool. Finally, these spools were used to weave new clothes or to sew damaged clothes.
Garden and Orchard
Though it was razed during the construction of Fort Mercer, the Whitalls had a large apple orchard near the north end of the house. There was also an herb garden near the kitchen which has been reconstructed for educational purposes. In addition to culinary herbs, the Whitalls also had medicinal, dyers, fragrance, household herbs. Some of the common medicinal herbs were lambs ear, which was used like a band-aid to staunch blood, and horehound, which is still used in cough medicines. Most of the dyers herbs were used to create browns and yellows, but there were some others, such as perilla for deep red, and baptisia for deep blue. Fragrance herbs include pineapple sage and lavander. Many household plants were used as insecticides, such as the yarrow and artemisia. Children were expected to work at a young age and many had simple chores such as watering, tending, and gather from the garden orchard.
Fishery, Livestock, and Ferry
James Whitall owned fishing boats and a ferry that he used to transport goods and people across the Delaware river. Shad would be caught from the river using seines, then boned, scaled, packed in salt barrels and either stored at the house or taken to market. The Whitalls also raised cattle, pigs, and sheep. A businessman, James sectioned off a portion of the front of the house as his office and supply room. This setup allowed him to divide his house to recieve visitors and do business without disturbing his family. The Delware river was shallow at this section, and during the winter months would freeze over. James and his sons would walk down to the river and carve blocks of ice to bring back to the ice house. The ice house was several stories underground, and would be stacked with alternating layers of ice and straw for insulation. and which would then be used to preserve food and supplies.
Kitchen
The current stone kitchen was not part of the original building. Before it was added, food was prepared in the hearth in the living room, providing heat for the whole room. After the stone kitchen was added, food was primarily cooked in the addition. The main focus of this
Dutch Oven
kitchen was the large hearth, with two windows for lighting and a door on each side to allow for a cross-breeze. When preparing for cooking, the hearth's fire would have been banked the night before. The fire would be started early in the morning to build up heat. Once the fire was hot enough, they began cooking. Unlike modern kitchens, they had to use utilities such as the reflecting oven and the dutch oven to cook their food; they could not simply place the food into an oven and bake it evenly. The reflecting oven was a metal semi-circle that would stand up vertically with a collection basin
Reflecting Oven
underneath and two holes on the sides. Meat, such as a whole chicken, could be put on skewers and the skewers would be put through the holes, holding up the meat in front of the curved metal and above the collection basin. The reflective back of the oven would reflect heat to help evenly cook the meat, though it had to be rotated halfway through the cooking process. The basin underneath collected the juices which would be used to make gravy. The dutch oven was used to bake things like biscuits. The biscuit dough would be placed in the dutch oven and a lid with a deep lip would be used to cover the pot. The dutch oven would then be placed on top of hot coals and more hot coals would be placed on the lid. This would create an even heat on the top and bottom and turn it into and oven.
Fort Mercer
In an effort to protect Philadelphia from British naval invasion, chevaux-de-fries were sunk into the Delaware river. Chevaux-de-fries are obstacles like long pointed logs that were sunk under the water intended to catch ships at the hull, tearing large holes, or forcing them into sand banks. To ensure the British didn't simply pick up the chevaux-de-fries or find an easy way to maneuver around them, three forts were built at select points along the river. These were forts Mercer, Mifflin, and Billingsport. Fort Mercer was built in April 1777 over the Whitall orchard near the house. It was over 300 yards long with a ditch surrounding the walls of the fort 12ft deep and 15ft wide. The outside of the walls were lined with sharpened spikes called fraise. Abatis were created, which were sharpened branches burried into the ground at an angle to hinder enemy troop movement, similar to the function of barbed wire.
Battle of Red Bank
The British did not successfully take Philadelphia by sea. The battle that was fought at Fort Mercer is called the Battle of Red Bank. In October of 1777, approximately 1200 Hessians, German soldiers contracted by Britain to fight the American Revolutionaries, stormed Fort Mercer led by General Von Donop. The Hessians outnumbered the Americans about 3 to 1. Thinking they caught the revolutionaries by surprise, the Hessians entered the fort expecting an easy victory and were instead massacred in a revolutionary surprise attack. Most of the Hessian officers were killed, including Von Donop. The remaining soldiers panicked and fled, resulting in a victory for the colonial forces. Unfortunately, Philadelphia was taken by land and Fort Mercer was abandoned.
Field Hospital
During the Battle of Red Bank, the Whitall House was used as a field hospital. Many Whitalls, as pacifists, moved to live temporarily with relatives. The ones that stayed helped tend the wounded. Many soldiers were wounded by musket balls. When shot, the heavy musket ball would often break bones, necessitating amputation. Sometimes the musket balls went straight through, but most times they stuck inside the soldier. A surgeon who tried to remove the musket ball would first use a probe, a thin metal pole, to find the ball. Then, he would slide forceps along the probe to clamp around the musket ball and remove it.
Head injuries were also common. When suffering a concussion, the brain begins to swell. In order to relieve the pressure, a trephine was used to drill a small hole in the skull. It is important to remember the surgeon typically had no way of putting a patient to sleep before operating. There was no anesthesia and no way of numbing the area. To bear the pain, soldiers would take a swig of rum or bite down on rope, wood, or a musket ball. This is where the term "bite the bullet" comes from.
Current Function as Historic House
The house is currently functions as a museum and visiting center for the 44-acre National Park. Docents dressed in colonial garb give public tours of the Whitall House Wednesdays to Sundays, April through mid-October. Every third Sunday of October there is an 18th Century Field Day held with a reenactment of the battle and demonstration of colonial technologies.
Early History
The Whitall house was constructed on a 400-acre plantation in 1748. Though most houses built in this time period were made out of wood, the Whitalls made theirs out of bricks and stone. This two-story home with attic and cellar was considered a mansion by colonial standards and cost £25. The main building was built by Restore Lippincott, but a stone kitchen was added to the south side of the house at a later date. The initials JAW and date 1748 are affixed to the north side of the house.
Life of James and Ann
18th century plantation life revolved around daylight, with much of the free time taken up by farming or household chores. Some daily responsibilites might include sheering, carding, or spinning of wool and flax fibers, maintaining or harvesting from the orchard and garden, chopping wood from the cedar swamps, tending the livestock, fishing, ferrying, cooking, and cleaning.
Textiles
Clothes were rarely bought in the 18th century. As such, women of the household typically made clothes for everyone in the household. Wool was periodically sheered from the sheep in clumps. These clumps then went through a process called carding. Hand carding involves transfering a piece of wool between two fine-toothed brushes, or cards, and pulling the brushes in opposite directions. This action aligns fibers and removes debris from the wool, softening it. The carded wool would be gathered and spun into spools of thread using a spinning wheel. When spinning, the woman would drive the wheel by pressing on the foot pedal, or treadle, while carefully regulating how much fiber to let loose. This regulation, or drafting, was necessary to ensure a consistent thickness. The wheel would then pull the wool through a flyer-and-bobbin which would twist it and spin it onto a spool. Finally, these spools were used to weave new clothes or to sew damaged clothes.Garden and Orchard
Though it was razed during the construction of Fort Mercer, the Whitalls had a large apple orchard near the north end of the house. There was also an herb garden near the kitchen which has been reconstructed for educational purposes. In addition to culinary herbs, the Whitalls also had medicinal, dyers, fragrance, household herbs. Some of the common medicinal herbs were lambs ear, which was used like a band-aid to staunch blood, and horehound, which is still used in cough medicines. Most of the dyers herbs were used to create browns and yellows, but there were some others, such as perilla for deep red, and baptisia for deep blue. Fragrance herbs include pineapple sage and lavander. Many household plants were used as insecticides, such as the yarrow and artemisia. Children were expected to work at a young age and many had simple chores such as watering, tending, and gather from the garden orchard.Fishery, Livestock, and Ferry
James Whitall owned fishing boats and a ferry that he used to transport goods and people across the Delaware river. Shad would be caught from the river using seines, then boned, scaled, packed in salt barrels and either stored at the house or taken to market. The Whitalls also raised cattle, pigs, and sheep. A businessman, James sectioned off a portion of the front of the house as his office and supply room. This setup allowed him to divide his house to recieve visitors and do business without disturbing his family. The Delware river was shallow at this section, and during the winter months would freeze over. James and his sons would walk down to the river and carve blocks of ice to bring back to the ice house. The ice house was several stories underground, and would be stacked with alternating layers of ice and straw for insulation. and which would then be used to preserve food and supplies.Kitchen
The current stone kitchen was not part of the original building. Before it was added, food was prepared in the hearth in the living room, providing heat for the whole room. After the stone kitchen was added, food was primarily cooked in the addition. The main focus of thisFort Mercer
In an effort to protect Philadelphia from British naval invasion, chevaux-de-fries were sunk into the Delaware river. Chevaux-de-fries are obstacles like long pointed logs that were sunk under the water intended to catch ships at the hull, tearing large holes, or forcing them into sand banks. To ensure the British didn't simply pick up the chevaux-de-fries or find an easy way to maneuver around them, three forts were built at select points along the river. These were forts Mercer, Mifflin, and Billingsport. Fort Mercer was built in April 1777 over the Whitall orchard near the house. It was over 300 yards long with a ditch surrounding the walls of the fort 12ft deep and 15ft wide. The outside of the walls were lined with sharpened spikes called fraise. Abatis were created, which were sharpened branches burried into the ground at an angle to hinder enemy troop movement, similar to the function of barbed wire.
Battle of Red Bank
The British did not successfully take Philadelphia by sea. The battle that was fought at Fort Mercer is called the Battle of Red Bank. In October of 1777, approximately 1200 Hessians, German soldiers contracted by Britain to fight the American Revolutionaries, stormed Fort Mercer led by General Von Donop. The Hessians outnumbered the Americans about 3 to 1. Thinking they caught the revolutionaries by surprise, the Hessians entered the fort expecting an easy victory and were instead massacred in a revolutionary surprise attack. Most of the Hessian officers were killed, including Von Donop. The remaining soldiers panicked and fled, resulting in a victory for the colonial forces. Unfortunately, Philadelphia was taken by land and Fort Mercer was abandoned.Field Hospital
During the Battle of Red Bank, the Whitall House was used as a field hospital. Many Whitalls, as pacifists, moved to live temporarily with relatives. The ones that stayed helped tend the wounded. Many soldiers were wounded by musket balls. When shot, the heavy musket ball would often break bones, necessitating amputation. Sometimes the musket balls went straight through, but most times they stuck inside the soldier. A surgeon who tried to remove the musket ball would first use a probe, a thin metal pole, to find the ball. Then, he would slide forceps along the probe to clamp around the musket ball and remove it.Head injuries were also common. When suffering a concussion, the brain begins to swell. In order to relieve the pressure, a trephine was used to drill a small hole in the skull. It is important to remember the surgeon typically had no way of putting a patient to sleep before operating. There was no anesthesia and no way of numbing the area. To bear the pain, soldiers would take a swig of rum or bite down on rope, wood, or a musket ball. This is where the term "bite the bullet" comes from.
Current Function as Historic House
The house is currently functions as a museum and visiting center for the 44-acre National Park. Docents dressed in colonial garb give public tours of the Whitall House Wednesdays to Sundays, April through mid-October. Every third Sunday of October there is an 18th Century Field Day held with a reenactment of the battle and demonstration of colonial technologies.
Resources
Giordano, Megan. E-mail interview. 16 Jan. 2009.
Muschio, Glenn. E-mail interview. 15 Jan. 2009.
Whitall Smith, Hannah. John M. Whitall: The Story of His Life.
Red Bank Battlefield Park & James and Ann Whitall House. Ed. Janice A. Brown. Gloucester County Parks and Recreation Department. 21 Jan 2009 <http://www.nj.searchroots.com/Gloucesterco/redbank.html>.
"Red Bank Battlefield Park." Gloucester Country Parks and Recreation. 16 Mar. 2009 <http://www.co.gloucester.nj. us/Government/Departments/ ParksnRec/redbank.cfm>.